Bangla violence toll 23, calm after President takes charge

DHAKA, Oct 30 (Agencies): Security forces were put on alert in Bangladesh today after President Iajuddin Ahmed took charge of the caretaker government, triggering protests from the opposition which vowed to continue its campaign which has claimed more than 20 lives.

The capital was tense with the opposition taking to the streets.

The army had been put on stand-by, media reports said.

However, there was no independent confirmation.

Four days of street violence had paralysed the country and left at least 23 people dead and hundreds injured.

Special security, which was withdrawn two days ago, were reinstalled today at the residence of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed who spearheaded the campaign for electoral reforms triggering widespread violence.

The country faced a political crisis when the five year tenure of BNP-led government ended on Friday and former Supreme Court Chief Justice K M Hasan declined to head a caretaker government amid opposition rejection and fierce street violence.

Ending the power vacuum, President Ahmed last night took oath as the head of a caretaker government to oversee parliamentary polls due in January.

After taking oath, Ahmed sought the cooperation of political parties to hold free and fair general elections early next year and restore peace in the country.

Earlier yesterday Ahmed held talks with leaders of four major political parties for finding a consensus candidate to head an interim administration.

Many newspapers, including the Daily Star, today criticised Ahmed’s decision to crown himself as the caretaker chief.

The Daily Star in an editorial “President’s gamble” asked if the move would “heal the rift” between Bangladesh’s bikering political divide.

“The nation and the world are looking and he will be only good as his actions,” it said.

The opposition has termed his taking charge as “a violation of the constitution” but did not reject him outright, saying they would watch his actvities first before taking any decision.

President Ahmed, a widely respected university teacher, was appointed president by the outgoing Prime Minister Khaleda Zia when it assumed power.

Bomb at Baghdad market kills 31 people, wounds more than 50 BAGHDAD, Oct 30 (Agencies): A bomb targeting poor Iraqi Shiites lining up for day jobs in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City killed at least 31 people and injured more than 50 others, police said.

The bomb tore through a collection of food stalls and kiosks at about 6:15 am.

(0845 IST), cutting down men who gather there daily hoping to be hired as labourers.

Hashim al-Yasiri put the casualty figure at 31 killed and 51 injured.

There were conflicting reports as to whether the blast was caused by a suicide bomber or a device concealed amid debris by the roadside.

The overwhelmingly Shiite area is a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia blamed for much of the sectarian violence rocking the city.

Sadr City, a sprawling neighborhood of 2.5 million people, has been the scene of repeated bomb attacks by suspected al-Qaida fighters who have sought to incite Shiite revenge attacks and drag the country into full-blown civil war.

The US and Iraqi military have kept a tight cordon around Sadr City since a raid there last week in search of an alleged Shiite death squad leader, who was not found.